Michigan consumer sentiment a touch better than expected

The University of Michigan's final consumer sentiment index for February rose to 91.7 from a preliminary reading of 90.7.

This was below last month´s final reading of 92.0 but a touch ahead of analysts’ expectations for a print of 91.0.

The index for current economic conditions came in at 106.8, up from 106.4 in January, but down from 106.9 in the same month of 2015.

Finally, the index of consumer expectations fell to 81.9 from 82.7 in January and was significantly below the reading of 88.0 a year earlier.

A gauge of consumers´ expectations five to ten years out edged lower, from 2.7% to 2.5%. One year out consumers still expected inflation to be at 2.5%.

Richard, Curtin, director of the survey, said: "Although consumers are not as optimistic as at the start of last year, the Sentiment Index is just 6.5% below the cyclical peak of 98.1 set in January 2015. Such a small decline is hardly consistent with the onset of a downturn in consumer spending.”